How much do your kids really know about recycling? Before I show you how to make these cute fairy house night lights, let’s talk about teaching kids to recycle. I know when I was growing up it wasn’t a big part of our daily lives like it is today. Kids learn about recycling at home and in school, but it’s up to us to keep the momentum going. I like to teach it through recycle crafts.
There are plenty of ways to encourage recycling, like turning what would otherwise be garbage into fun craft projects, which if you’ve been following this blog for a while you know I am passionate about! There are lots of ways to turn recycling into a game with sorting and color-coded boxes or you can save this huge collection of plastic bottle crafts to do throughout the year.
Fairy House Night Lights
These cute fairy house night lights used to be empty plastic water bottles. You can find them along the roadside sometimes, but hopefully they are usually in the recycle bin. My neighbor’s grandchildren helped me out today by picking up some discarded plastic bottles along the tree line right by their elementary school. Sounds like their school is the perfect candidate for a Recycle Rally!
We collected several plastic bottles and washed a couple out with warm soapy water so we could turn them into these fun and colorful fairy house night lights!
I was really proud of the kids as they truly wanted to keep their environment clean. It was pretty chilly out today, but they insisted on picking up the trash and disposing of it properly, including recycling it.
We talked about how to look at the recycling symbols on the bottom of the bottles so they would know what could be recycled and what couldn’t. Once we were back inside they sorted their findings and we washed several bottles for our craft project.
Does your school teach kids to recycle? I’m sure they do, but it wouldn’t hurt to suggest a Recycle Rally for them as well! It’s a great way to educate kids and help keep our earth beautiful for these future generations.
I encourage you to look into getting a Recycle Rally started at your child’s school. It’s a free nationwide program that provides valuable incentives and resources to help make recycling easy, fun and rewarding!
Now I’d like to show you how to make these sweet fairy house night lights that you can use anywhere in your home, including a child’s room or a nursery.
You will need:
- Recycled plastic bottle
- Multi-surface craft paint
- LED tea light
- Silk flowers
- Moss
- Hot glue gun
- Craft knife
- Scissors
These fairy house night lights were really fun to make and so easy! A great way to turn some empty water bottles into something cute and useful. These would even be sweet out on the patio for those warm summer nights!
You can get a printable version of this craft below or watch the video above to see how it’s done.
Don’t forget to check out Recycle Rally and talk about getting your child’s school signed up for this free and encouraging program about recycling!
More Fairy House Crafts
I will show you How to Start a Fairy Garden in this post. From decorating a simple wooden birdhouse to creating the landscape around it. This fairy garden spend the entire summer of 2015 outside of my studio.
This Birdhouse Fairy House is the first fairy house I ever made. The birdhouse cost $1.00 and I used natural elements as some paint to decorate it. Find out more by clicking the photo.
My daughter and I created this Pumpkin Fairy House as an entry into the pumpkin decorating contest where she works. She actually won first prize! It’s a fun project, but if I did it again I would use a fake pumpkin.
Watch the video below for the complete instructions, you can also print the instructions at the end of this post.
Fairy House Night Lights
Supplies
- Recycled plastic bottle
- Multi-surface craft paint
- LED tea light
- Silk flowers
- Moss
- Hot glue gun
- Craft knife
- Scissors
Instructions
- Cut top portion of bottle off with craft knife.
- Remove the lid and set aside. Cut off the plastic band around the neck of the bottle.
- Paint both halves of the bottle with colors of your choice. Allow to dry 30 minutes then repeat for a second coat.
- Cut a window in the bottle half of the bottle, large enough to fit the tea light inside.
- Cut slits halfway up the top half of the bottle, about 1-inch apart. Bend the ends of each slit upward so that they stick out.
- Decorate the outside of the house with silk flowers.
- Cover the bottle lid with silk leaves or flowers. Place lid back on the neck of the bottle.
- Add some hot glue to the inside of the bottom half of the bottle and line the bottom with moss. Add tea light candle.
- Place "roof" on top of the "house".
This post originally appeared here on Apr 5, 2016.
- Paper Plate Black Cat - October 3, 2023
- Glowing Jack O Lantern Jars - September 19, 2023
- Glow in the Dark Monster Rocks - September 12, 2023
Ruth says
Thank you for this great project 👍 my girlguide unit are doing upcycling projects so this idea fitted right in. We have gone with a tikki hut alternative as they are having a hawaii party
Pat Dupas says
love crafts that don’t cost alot
Serena Jeschel says
I love it so much! Thank you!
christy says
Hi girl…I just want to tell you this is the coolest craft I have ever seen…. !!!!!!! you do a wonderful job on ,, well every thing i have saw ,,,girl i;m so proud of you for trying to help….but really your stuff is great ♥ ♥ ♥ ,,an thanks for showing us so we can help some too,,,,, xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo christy, ♥♥♥
Amanda Formaro says
Thanks Christy! So glad you like it so much, hope you have fun creating!
Winnie says
Wonderful project! This is so beautiful :)
I see that you used LED candle. What if I use the real burning candle? Is it safe for the bottle to not get burned?
Amanda Formaro says
No I would not use a real candle as it will melt the plastic.
Janie Rinta says
Hi Amanda (my oldest daughter’s name)…..This is absolutely FABULOUS!!! I do teach recycling / upcycling to to primary girls in craft classes. I also do the same in my YouTube videos…..I have a series Trash To Treasure where I showcase some of my previous videos / projects that were made by upcycling. Just a couple of the projects the girls have made are a mini album created with an upcycled cereal box or cracker box, and a sweet little denim purse made from an old blue jeans pocket. I love your video and night light idea and am looking forward to using this idea for a project in the future. Thank you so much for sharing that. Please feel free to enter this in Crafter’s Castle challenge ( crafterscastle.blogspot.com ) and also here is a link to my YouTube video play list of upcycled / recycled projectshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEfLczMU_WLm_s9uwqZtjQHovbzRme19f
:) Hugs…Janie
Janie Rinta says
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEfLczMU_WLm_s9uwqZtjQHovbzRme19f
Amanda Formaro says
What a great channel Janie, thanks for sharing!
Kim says
Do you know if this would be safe as bird houses? Or possible Squirrel feeders? I’d like to make that a summer project for my Grandkids but I don’t want any animals to get sick. I’d have to use a paint sealer on the outside but worry that the animals especially squirrels nawing on the plastic or glue.
What do you think?
Amanda Formaro says
Hi, Kim. Even though the acrylic paints that I used say they are non-toxic I wouldn’t recommend using them as animal feeders. Also, these night lights are made from recycled plastic bottles and are very light weight and I don’t believe they will hold up to animal use. Even if you use two-liter bottles which are larger and sturdier, the paint will not hold up to the wear and tear that animals and the elements will cause, even with a sealer I don’t believe they would last very long. If you really want to make a feeder, you could recycle cardboard milk cartons and decorate them with mod podge and paper or fabric with an outdoor mod podge sealer. I hope that helps! :)
Devin Whiteman says
Wow
örgü modelleri says
incredible, they are wonderful :)
Amanda Formaro says
Thank you!
Abigail Cain says
Wonderful idea. Make me want to make a whole fairy village!
Amanda Formaro says
Thanks Abigail! :)
Michelle says
I love how you recycled the plastic bottles, they are adorable. Really like the idea of a Recycle Rally. I wonder if we have something like that in South Africa, I think I need to do some research. Thanks for an inspiring post
Angie says
These houses are wonderful! I can’t wait to make several to hang from our trailer awning when we go camping. Thank you for the great idea! Angie
Amanda Formaro says
Fun idea hanging them from the awning!
a says
OMG I love the Lantern………beautiful
Angie says
Great idea! Tried to sign up for your newsletter but the icon kept closing.
This is also a great project for a grandparent to do with their grandchild. I love teaching my grandkids different ways to recycle.
Jo says
Wow this is absolutely fantastic! I cannot wait to get my daughter and make a couple of these!! Now I noticed that you used small little bottles…. I have 20 oz bottles that I can recycle. Will this work for that size or do we need those small little ones?
Hugs,
Jo
[email protected]
Amanda Formaro says
You are correct that I used small bottles, but you can absolutely use the larger ones. You can follow the directions exactly and your fairy houes will just be taller, or you can cut an inch or so off that bottom section to shorten it :)